Author: Russ

Doing better

I managed to slow the leak in the garboard with a bit of cotton in the split so the rest of the weeping is now manageable. The butt blocks on the third plank down are still leaking so they’ll get attended to when Sjogin’s hauled to fit the rudder. That should get her ready for the ice season. (Touch wood!)

Speaking of the rudder, there’s been substantial progress with the fairing just about done and the cheeks chamfered. Looks like painting may start soon after the riveting is done.

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Cheeks and clamps
Gluing the white oak cheeks to the plywood blade. The spacer at the top is also white oak. I’ll finish the top in a simple fashion for now. Perhaps when/if we get iced in the rudder can be pulled and turned over to Jeff Reid for a bit of carving.

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Rivets next
Finished shaping and fairing. Riveting is next and then painting. (And filling in the misses with the hammer.) The plywood will be saturated with epoxy and painted as well. I still need to design and fashion a new tiller.

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Just rigged
Once again swimming against the tide as Sjogin’s mast is stepped while all others are doing the opposite.

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Ed Lowe
Slipmate Ed Lowe and a loud gull. Ed’s well into his 90’s and still messing about with boats. Hope I have another 30 years of this.

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First Sizzle!
First sizzle of the season on board this leaky old tub. Certainly makes it all worthwhile. Cheers!

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Bottom work for Ghost
Ghost has been flipped and is in the shop for a bottom fairing. Paul and Jeff will be chasing the bumps I left almost twenty years ago. Very cool to see how some of my work held up. One of my first jobs was making the oak skeg. Absent some deep checking, it’s doing fine.

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Christmas Party at Ourhouse
A fuzzy but happy pic of the Christmas Party at Ourhouse. Brisk evening which made the fire most welcome.

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Tis the Season
Best of the Season to you and yours dear reader.

Somehow the weeks go by between posts and I can feel refresh keys wearing out. I’ll try to keep the Posts more timely next year. You can always see new pics on Flickr as that page is updated frequently.

She swims (sort of)

After a spell in the care of Beaton’s, Sjogin was launched last Friday. After a week in the slings she’s still leaking more than usual. A check today showed another split plank. This time it’s in the garboard next to a butt block that may have to be replaced. She may need to be hauled to replace the butt and fix the split. Very frustrating but at least the garboard seam seems tight after caulking by Paul Smith. And his repairs to the stem and keel are tight with no sign of any leaks.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks:

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Oak bits
Prime white oak being fitted to replace the iron sick keel and stem ends. Thankfully the keel was fairly sound at the garboard so we didn’t need to open the planks to go deeper. This should keep her going for a long while.

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Progress
Bolted in place with enough goo to keep it tight. The white streaks are filled in checks.

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Faired
The joint looks like it did 50 years ago. Thanks Paul.

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Ready to leave the OR
Leaving the best boat shop in NJ.

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Soaking up
Hanging in the slings and soaking up. She’s now in the slings in the South shed with the pump going on every three minutes or so. The joys of taking care of an old boat.

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It fits
Work continues at the other end. Here’s the plywood rudder blade with the fitted pintels. Fits just fine. Still need to make a new tiller.

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Rudder cheeks
Here’s one of the cheeks and the pattern. A little different than the original but they should look fine.

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Masterwork
This is the bushing Paul turned from a piece of propeller shaft. Nice to have treasures like this laying around the shop. (And the skill at Beaton’s to make it.) The new pintels are a bit smaller than the worn gudgeons so the bushings will make up the difference.

A problem at the other end of Sjogin

Poor Sjogin; she needs a partial stemectomy. One of her less than stellar attributes is her galvanized iron backbone fastenings. Over the years the bolts have rusted, causing a condition known as iron sickness. The oak surrounding the bolts turned black and brittle; just what we have here.

Now it’s something on the “I’ll get to that next year” list that needs to be taken care of this year. Paul Smith is leading the repair, cutting back to sound wood, removing the old bolts and fitting white oak pieces to match the original profile.

When all this is finished the problem areas at the ends will be taken care of; then it’s time for the middle bits.

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Worse!
When I went over the bottom, looking for loose paint and such, I noticed my earlier efforts at fixing the problem had failed. After cutting away a bit of the keel it became clear it was time for major surgery.

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Worser!
The more I dug, the worse it got. The question was whether the planking would need to be opened to do the repair.

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Ouch
It looks like Paul Smith will be able to scarf in two oak pieces to tie the stem together. He was able to loosen two of the rusted bolts so he’ll be able to reuse the holes. The new bolts will be galvanized as well, hopefully lasting until my heirs will have to worry about it.

Sjogin will go into the Wood Shop this week for the stem reconstruction.

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Rivers of cotton
Here’s Paul pounding in a river of cotton in what I hope was a major source of Sjogin’s leaks.

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Smooth enough
Freshly painted and good enough to pass a ten foot test. Photo taken before the stem issue discovered. The painting will continue in the shop.

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Ah ha!
You may recall I had a problem with a split plank last winter. Post here. Well I discovered that the split had spread enough to warrant attention from the wet side. The split was cleaned out and filed with goop. It should take care of that leak.

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The rudder work continues; pics next time.

Speedwell sails with the A-Cats

I went to Beaton’s Saturday with every intent of working on Sjogin. A bit after I started, folks began arriving for the A-cat Worlds. I walked out on the dock by Speedwell and found the breeze starting to fill in. The three race series was to be held just south of Swan Point and an easy duck boat sail away so I gave in to the inevitable.

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Port tack start!
Ghost tries a Port tack start in very light conditions.

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Lightning
Here’s Lightning, unfortunately sailing as slow as she can.

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spy leads
Spy leading in the last race, just after the start. She went on to win on a high note for next year.

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Happy Skipper
Lazy man sailing.

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Post regatta party
Post regatta party. Nice seeing some old friends and boats.

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Shed mates
Classy shed mate. Serena’s done for the year. Work continues on Sjogin and the new rudder.

Rudder progress

The aft stem shape has been determined and a full size pattern’s been made. I’ve collected the plywood and just about ready to start cutting and gluing. When glued I’ll fair the plywood to the pattern and start getting out the white oak cheeks.

I needed a partial sheet of 6mm Sapele to go between the two layers of 15mm. Beaton’s couldn’t help so I went to Bill de Rouville’s boat shop on Toms River. Nice little boatyard on a cove off the river. I’ll get some pics next time.

When done it should be close to one and a half inches. The pintles are on their way from Hamilton Marine. They’re Wilcox Crittenden cast bronze and should be here by this weekend. The distance between the tangs will hopefully match the finished rudder. I may have to put some sort of bushing in the existing gudgeons as the new pintles have a half inch pin.

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It fits!
A one inch pine plank served to pick up the stem shape and the location of the gudgeons. Nice bit of chisel and plane work.

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Looks close
The final shape looks close to the original. The aft edge is a bit fairer at the waterline. The original was scraped and faired over the years and had a funny shape.

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Speedwell awaits
Here’s a view from the cockpit. Speedwell awaits a break in the Sjogin action.

Sjogin’s hauled

She’s out for a quick refit and for a new rudder. I had Tom order a sheet of 15mm Sapele plywood today for the lower part of the rudder. The finished thickness will be close to 1 1/2″, similar to the original. I know it’s not the same as the original, but just the blade will be ply. The cheeks and the top will be white oak, hopefully carved to match the original.

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Hauled
Back in her usual spot. This will be quick, as the A-Cats will be hauled for Winter storage in a few weeks.

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Have you seen the rudder?
This is the image I’m using to recreate the same rudder (except for the drifted oak bit). The distance between the pintles is 27″ so I’ll use that to reference the rest of the dimensions.

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Ahhhhh....
This is the carving I hope to duplicate. Jeff Reid is a worker at Beaton’s who’s become an accomplished carver. I think he can do justice to Sjogin’s new rudder.

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Mast out
Pulling the stick and always a sad day.

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Hove to!
Hove to inside Swan Point. She seems to like the sail out about 3/4’s with the wind just forward of the beam. With the board down she drifts to leeward needing just an occasional touch of the rudder. Great fun poking about in search for the lost rudder. (It’s almost Melvillian.)

Note the osprey on the pole. They’re thinking about heading south soon.

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Post Irene
The day after Irene left. Just a bit of water on the lawn and some limbs lost off our Sycamore Maple. Close call.

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Irene pruning
Survival of the fittest limbs.

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High tide mark
You can just make out the high water mark level with the top of the hinge. About eight inches over the wood shop floor.

Successful World Ducks

I managed to complete one race without dumping (and not losing the rudder). When the three minute gun went off I was chatting with Carl Danish well to leeward of the starting line. I wasn’t alone being late so I had some company working around the olympic course in very light air. Suited me just fine.

The new rig worked great, allowing for relaxed sailing. With less area she was a bit slower than the other boats but not that much. Lot’s of compliments.

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Drifting
Drifting (and towing) down to the start. Sailing, without a doubt, as slow as I can.

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Ms. Beaton
Meghan Beaton ghosting by.

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Not last
See, I did beat a few boats, finishing 62nd out of 73 boats in the first race. Left the course after the first race to get home and finish Irene preparations. Wait till next year.

More from Maine

along with recent pics of Speedwell and Sjogin.

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Quite calm
Typical morning conditions on the Reach. Julia rowed me around the cove that morning but no pics.

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John Brooks
John Brooks and one of his Sommes Sound 12 1/2 designs.

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Center Harbor
Neat old Lobster boat in Center Harbor. We were returning on Malabar II, a beautiful boat in a harbor full of them. (Mostly.)

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Jett and Bob
Jett and Bob enjoying a Martini.

More Maine pics on Flickr.

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Happy Skipper
Running home today in Speedwell. Rising breeze, several gybes and still dry! Duckboat Worlds on Friday.

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Rudderless
Without direction.  Sjogin awaits the passing of Irene and several months in the shed.

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More this weekend….

Back from Maine

and still no rudder. When we were away I had hopes of hearing of a sighting but no such luck. I had planned (there’s that word again) to wait till December to haul Sjogin and spend the Winter replacing her rub rails, wooding the hull and such. Oh well, she’s getting pulled next week so the repairs and new rudder construction will just start that much sooner.

In the meantime I’ll be getting ready for the Duckboat worlds. They’re at Mantoloking YC on Friday, August 26th. Details here. I asked Peter Kellogg if I’d be able to use the sprit rig and he graciously said yes so Speedwell will be easy to find in the group pics. (Also look near the end of the fleet.) It’ll be interesting to compare the rigs side by side. (As they sail past to weather.)

Maine was wonderful as always. Only one day of showers which suited for our Blue Hill shopping expedition. We had two sails on Tendress and a great beat up the Reach on the 89 year old Malabar II. Sandwiched in between was a picnic cruise to Pond Island on Boss Lady with dramatic views of Acadia. Paradise indeed.

We also visited with John Brooks at his shop in Brooklin. Looking forward to seeing the Silver Penny plans one of these days.

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Bliss
Soaking it in. At Brooklin Boatyard in Center Harbor where Tendress was built. The black schooner over Julia’s shoulder is Malabar II. She was built in 1922 and under the stewardship of her current owner for the past 37 years. Her design was done by John Alden of Boston, the second in his eventual ten boat series based on New England fishing schooners.

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Bliss II
Enjoying another beautiful sunset at the Landing.

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Fiona driving
Seven year old Fiona driving Malabar II down Eggomoggin Reach.

More later and when I cull the iPhone pics. Also a Post this week on the Duckboat Worlds preparations.